NAME
----
-git-show-branch - Show branches and their commits.
+git-show-branch - Show branches and their commits
SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-show-branch [--all] [--heads] [--tags] [--more=<n> | --list | --independent | --merge-base] [--no-name | --sha1-name] <reference>...'
+[verse]
+'git-show-branch' [--all] [--heads] [--tags] [--topo-order] [--current]
+ [--more=<n> | --list | --independent | --merge-base]
+ [--no-name | --sha1-name] [<rev> | <glob>]...
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Shows the head commits from the named <reference> (or all refs under
-$GIT_DIR/refs/heads), and displays concise list of commit logs
-to show their relationship semi-visually.
+
+Shows the commit ancestry graph starting from the commits named
+with <rev>s or <globs>s (or all refs under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads
+and/or $GIT_DIR/refs/tags) semi-visually.
+
+It cannot show more than 29 branches and commits at a time.
+
+It uses `showbranch.default` multi-valued configuration items if
+no <rev> nor <glob> is given on the command line.
+
OPTIONS
-------
-<reference>::
- Name of the reference under $GIT_DIR/refs/.
+<rev>::
+ Arbitrary extended SHA1 expression (see `git-rev-parse`)
+ that typically names a branch HEAD or a tag.
+
+<glob>::
+ A glob pattern that matches branch or tag names under
+ $GIT_DIR/refs. For example, if you have many topic
+ branches under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/topic, giving
+ `topic/*` would show all of them.
--all --heads --tags::
Show all refs under $GIT_DIR/refs, $GIT_DIR/refs/heads,
and $GIT_DIR/refs/tags, respectively.
+--current::
+ With this option, the command includes the current
+ branch to the list of revs to be shown when it is not
+ given on the command line.
+
+--topo-order::
+ By default, the branches and their commits are shown in
+ reverse chronological order. This option makes them
+ appear in topological order (i.e., descendant commits
+ are shown before their parents).
+
--more=<n>::
Usually the command stops output upon showing the commit
that is the common ancestor of all the branches. This
tree.
--list::
- Synomym to `--more=-1`
+ Synonym to `--more=-1`
--merge-base::
Instead of showing the commit list, just act like the
------
Given N <references>, the first N lines are the one-line
description from their commit message. The branch head that is
-pointed at by $GIT_DIR/HEAD is prefixed with an asterisk '*'
-character while other heads are prefixed with a '!' character.
+pointed at by $GIT_DIR/HEAD is prefixed with an asterisk `*`
+character while other heads are prefixed with a `!` character.
Following these N lines, one-line log for each commit is
displayed, indented N places. If a commit is on the I-th
-branch, the I-th indentation character shows a '+' sign;
-otherwise it shows a space. Each commit shows a short name that
-can be used as an exended SHA1 to name that commit.
+branch, the I-th indentation character shows a `+` sign;
+otherwise it shows a space. Merge commits are denoted by
+a `-` sign. Each commit shows a short name that
+can be used as an extended SHA1 to name that commit.
The following example shows three branches, "master", "fixes"
and "mhf":
------------------------------------------------
$ git show-branch master fixes mhf
-! [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
+* [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
! [fixes] Introduce "reset type" flag to "git reset"
! [mhf] Allow "+remote:local" refspec to cause --force when fetching.
---
+ [mhf~6] Retire git-parse-remote.
+ [mhf~7] Multi-head fetch.
+ [mhf~8] Start adding the $GIT_DIR/remotes/ support.
-+++ [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
+*++ [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
------------------------------------------------
These three branches all forked from a common commit, [master],
whose commit message is "Add 'git show-branch'. "fixes" branch
adds one commit 'Introduce "reset type"'. "mhf" branch has many
-other commits.
+other commits. The current branch is "master".
+
+
+EXAMPLE
+-------
+
+If you keep your primary branches immediately under
+`$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`, and topic branches in subdirectories of
+it, having the following in the configuration file may help:
+
+------------
+[showbranch]
+ default = --topo-order
+ default = heads/*
+
+------------
+
+With this, `git show-branch` without extra parameters would show
+only the primary branches. In addition, if you happen to be on
+your topic branch, it is shown as well.
+
Author